Resident Evil: Absolution
by Afton Walker
Summary: In the aftermath of the C-virus outbreaks, the President Incumbent sanctions the War on Bioterrorism against the terrorist group Neo-Umbrella and its new leader, Alex Wesker, plunging our heroes, and the world, into chaos. This is their account of the attack that escalated toward war and the years that followed, leading to the final battle that would change their world forever.


_Short Synopsis: After surviving Lanshiang, Chris laments over losing Piers, gets an unexpected surprise, and Leon drops a bombshell Chris and Sherry never saw coming._

**Prologue: Where We Begin**

_**July 1, 2013**_

_**Chris**_

_It was the summer of 2013: The whole world had gone to hell in a hand basket. The POTUS was dead. And the simultaneous C-virus outbreaks in the U.S. and China left us cowering in the shadow of Neo-Umbrella. They had us by the throat, showing no mercy. Their bioweapons preyed on the innocent, fueling their devastation and destruction, and empowering those few of us who'd had the means, and the balls, to oppose them and strike back…_

I had a bad case of déjà vu during our campaign in Lanshiang as I helplessly watched the members of my team get picked off one-by-one by the B.O.W.s. I was haunted by Alpha's downfall in Edonia and the nightmare that'd occurred in the Arklay Mountains 15 years before. And when it was all over, I was the sole survivor, God-be-damned. During the helicopter ride back to the mainland, my mind was tortured and battered. As I gazed longingly through the window at the South China Sea that lay below, shimmering under the rising sun like ripples of glass, all I could think was: 'They're gone. Finn…Marco…Piers…My men, my brothers, all gone. And I'm still here.' It was like someone had played me in some sort of cruel, sick, twisted joke. Like someone had a grudge against me. Like Wesker himself had risen from his fiery grave and put a curse on me. And it left me feeling disgusted and self-loathing.

I remember meeting up with Leon and Sherry and their respective partners a short while later at the American Embassy in Beijing, which was thankfully untouched by Neo-Umbrella and their hell-spawned creations. The mood was somber; we were all physically and mentally exhausted, not to mention tired and hungry and thirsty and in desperate need of a hot shower, though the heat of the early July sun made me crave a freaking ice bath more than anything. The whole time we sat there, dead silent, I felt like a third wheel; without someone who could share the pain with me, my gaze fixed down at my hands folded in my lap at Piers' sleeve patch, speckled with his blood. Then, suddenly, as if in a dream, I heard a familiar voice from the other side of the door:

"Is he in here?"

"Identification please, Miss," one of the guards questioned, his Mandarin accent and seasoned baritone subtly slurring his words.

"Jill Valentine, BSAA North American Division," she answered. I caught a slight quiver in her voice as she tried reasoning with the guards outside, a long-time employee named Li Bing and his protégé Dai Ying. "I came here to see my husband, Chris Redfield."

"Wait, Jill's here?" Leon asked with alarm, his gaze shifted toward the door.

"Why wouldn't she be?" I wondered.

"'Cause she was told to stay home," Leon said. "They said it would be too much for her." I had so many questions at that point that I almost didn't hear the doors open as Jill walked in. "I thought that guy Piers told you to stay home," Leon said matter-of-factly, like a father scolding his teenage daughter for coming home later than she should have.

"I know, but when I heard that he and Chris were here, I packed an overnight bag and booked a seat on the first flight," Jill replied as she closed the ornate mahogany doors of the Receiving Room behind her. "Of course, dealing with air traffic on the way over was a royal bitch, considering the chaos on the southern coast."

"You know that's not what I'm worried about," Leon argued, gesturing toward her. That's when I finally realized the object of his concern: Jill's stomach was so swollen that I was surprised the tight black T-shirt she'd been wearing didn't rip open. My breath hitched as I took it all in.

"Leon," she said smartly, "I'm fine, the baby's fine, so stop worrying already." Leon grunted. She then spotted me sitting on the loveseat in the corner and came over to sit beside me, an apologetic look on her face as she kissed my forehead, telling me how worried she'd been about me and accepting my apology. She then glanced at the bloodied patch I gripped in my hand and silently gasped, tears forming as she saw the tired look in my eyes and put two-and-two together.

"He didn't want me to risk the baby," she said in a soft, mournful whisper, one hand on her belly, the other over the patch in mine. "He told me that you'd been in bad shape and that he wanted me to wait until you were stateside and done being evaluated before I could see you. He was afraid that…after how he'd found you…that you'd…" The tears flowed freely now, her hands gripped in distress.

"That I'd what?" I asked, looking at her with confusion and concern. After a brief moment of silence, she looked at me, then back down, shaking her head. "I told him you'd never do something like that; that I knew you better than to abandon us." I was taken aback by this, finally realizing the repercussions of my actions in the past six months, my chest growing heavy with guilt. She looked back at me, choking on her words as she continued, "He wanted you to come home…to live to see your son, because he was afraid of the possibility that I'd end up raising him on my own. So he told me: 'I'll bring him home…no matter what it takes.'"

It was then that I finally understood why he'd given his life to save mine when I felt that I didn't deserve to be saved as those heart-wrenching words echoed in my head:

"_As long as you…"_

A lump formed in my throat as I felt my own eyes well up with the tears that I'd been keeping in for so long; to save face in front of my men, to show them that they had someone to depend on. And I'd failed them…all of them…Jill worst of all. With nothing more to hold them back, I closed my eyes and finally let them fall.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…" I sobbed, Jill squeezing my hand in comfort as I squeezed back, our fingers intertwined as they grasped the patch that would forever serve as a memento toward my reason for fighting. Those words weren't just for Jill; they were also for those who were hurt by me; who hurt for me; who fought me; who fought for me; who died by me; who died for me. Everyone I knew and loved and lost.

_Someone once told me that every tear shed is another life lost. After all these years, when I think back to that day, those words still hold true…_

**_Leon_**

I watched Chris break down beside Jill, the sun glistening off the tears that ran down his face, streaking through the dirt and grime and blood and sweat that, like the rest of us, clung to and was splattered across our clothes and bodies like an oil canvas. I didn't have the heart to tell him the tragic news that awaited him back home…

"I wonder if Claire's coming," Sherry wondered, unaware of the circumstances that would force me to do what I'd been dreading for the past four months. "I sent her a letter before I went to Edonia. I hope she knows where I am now."

Trying not to break down myself, I looked at her and said, "She's not coming." A look of disappointment crossed her face, but then she shrugged it off, saying, "Well, she's probably busy. I understand." I looked at the ground, my hands gripping my knees, and after a long, uncomfortable silence, I looked at her again, my eyes starting to well up as I told her, in a cracked voice, "Sherry…Claire's not coming…period."

"Why? Didn't she get my letter? Did something happen?" she asked with concern, her tone drawing Chris and Jill's attention, making the difficult task I was about to do that much harder. I took a deep breath, choking a sob. "Claire's…She's…"

Jill noticed my attempts at keeping myself together, and thankfully lifted the weight from my shoulders, looking at both Sherry and Chris as she continued for me. "Claire was killed four months ago."

"I tried to save her, but…" I said sorrowfully. I could feel their hearts stop as they tried to absorb the shock of what they'd just heard. Sherry was the first to react, the tears in her eyes falling slower, than faster as she kept muttering, "No," until she finally crumbled and sobbed against Jake, who held her in a gentle embrace and rocked her back and forth, shushing her and stroking her hair with his gloved hands. While Chris and Jill shed silent tears, I felt Helena gently rub my shoulder, welcoming the comfort.

I got up and Jake let go of Sherry, allowing her to run into my arms, the same way she had with Claire after I'd told her about her mother and what she'd done to save her all those years ago. Her last words, and Sherry's ultimate reaction, ran through my mind at that moment as I thought about the last moments I shared with Claire:

_"Please…Tell her…That even though I've failed as a mother…I have always loved her…"_

_"No! That's a lie! Mommy would never…"_

"I'm sorry, Sherry," I whispered into her hair, holding her as she sobbed into my heartbroken chest, tears running down my face and onto her scalp, surprisingly clean considering all we'd gone through. I dared a glance at Chris, who no doubt was full of rage and resentment toward me for not being able to protect his beloved little sister, who was the only family he had left.

A few days later, after debriefing and evaluations back home, the BSAA reprimanded Chris for being AWOL for six months, and after hearing Jill's pleas toward his case, gave him three month's suspension with pay under the guise of paternity leave, allowing him to be with Jill and help her after their son was born. Chris agreed to the terms without incident. Sherry and Jake parted ways back in China after he willingly handed over his blood samples, both promising to keep in touch when they had free time. And as for me and Helena, we went to visit Deborah's gravesite, where Helena reconciled with her sister and was ultimately exonerated in the case of Adam's assassination at the hands of Derek Simmons. We stayed close partners ever since…

_On that night in June, the Beauty and the Beast met their ultimate fate, together forever as they burned in the depths of the Hell they unleashed upon the world. From their blood, the last remnant of Umbrella's legacy arose from the shadows, and a new era began..._


End file.
